Life Is A Big Empty Canvas.....Splash As Much Colour On It As You Can!!

Reflections on Turkey.

Why are my feelings mixed when I reflect on Turkey? Part of me, a big part of me, wanted to rekindle the memories I have from 42 years ago....when I was so young and impressionable. Now, even with the wisdom of age (?) the little girl in me still wants to see the heavily laden donkeys (no tractors), farmers stomping olives with their feet (no factories), wood and rock houses (not concrete high rises being built & also abandoned), gently rolling hillsides (not craters left by mining). The world deserves progress taking steps to alleviate poverty yet, in speaking with "Famous Shamus" (a Kurd working in a restaurant in Kusadasi) there is still a long way to go in eastern Turkey. They are making progress. Less than 10 years ago girls didn't have to go to school.  
 Another man, a business man, was pretty upset with the present government stating that they are destroying many of Turkey's advances & hurting the tourist industry as well as overbuilding.
Then there's is the whole question of Taksim Square and the recent protests held there. People we've spoken with are proud of the stand that was taken and hope that the government will take notice. There is great respect, especially for the 'Standing Man' protest. This man did not yell or make angry gestures, he just stood there and still he was arrested....along with the people who decided to join him.  
From what I saw on the Mediterranean and Aegean coast, the tourist's demands are helping to destroy the character of the country (as well as the natural beauty). Quads, jeeps and motor bikes race around Cappadocia as well as the coastline back roads. They are told to stick to the paths but, like in Canada, that's never as much fun.
I think, in hindsight, this journey had two distinct parts. Istanbul was much as I remembered. We parked our Volkswagon van outside the Blue Mosque (apparently where the old Hippodrome was) 42 years ago not far from where we were staying. There weren't any cell phone stores back then but there isn't much you can do to change the labyrinth of the Spice Market or the Grand Bazaar.  
On our visit to Mount Nemrut, Golbekli Tepe and the birthplace of civilization, Mesopotamia, we were transported back to a time and place that is beyond explanation.
Fethiye was the beginning of the European takeover. Bodrum & Kusadasi were beautiful yet very commercial. It was even hard to find local food there that wasn't dummied down for the tourists (there is a reason all the restaurants have shakers for hot pepper flakes!). Only Datca provided local flavour and a relaxed atmosphere.
So here web are "splashing more paint on our canvas".  
It took us four buses, a plane a tram and a rapid transit train to get us back to Istanbul from Izmir. Now, as I write this, we are at the Ritz Carlton in a room with a king sized bed overlooking the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara.
We left the quaint Guesthouse we had been staying in this morning and, I'm probably safe in saying, we may be the only tourists that arrived at the Ritz by taking a local tram and walking up the very steep hill to the back entrance. Just a little more paint on the canvas.
Today we check in with AMA Waterways to begin the next part of our journey.....and we get to catch up with our friends, Ruth & Larry, who are journeying with us.